


wedding bells

by 3amtrain



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Upstaging Your Buddy's Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 18:10:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17248988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3amtrain/pseuds/3amtrain
Summary: Neji and Lee get married.





	wedding bells

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for the naruto year end bash! here's the prompt:
> 
> “neji and lee get married. sasuke and naruto make a scene during the ceremony…and end up engaged.” (from @validtitty on tumblr)
> 
> it got really cheesy! please enjoy

The hall was romantically-lit by a tasteful, glittering chandelier. Guests drifted around in classic suits and elegant dresses. Might Guy wore his best green jumpsuit. Kakashi’s mask looked to be made of cashmere.  Most surprising of all, there was nary a sandal in sight.

It was the fanciest day of the year for the Shinobi of the Leaf Village, because it was Neji and Lee’s wedding, and Neji had insisted on a dress code.

Naruto had to admit the place looked beautiful. He had no eye for décor or clothes or whatever—in fact, Iruka had picked this suit for him—but the centerpiece flowers at his table were really nice. Very tastefully done.

Sakura had to agree. “Very nice,” she said, poking the white blooms.

“Tasteful,” Naruto concurred.

Sakura was dressed in a high-collared cream cheongsam, and she glowed like a white flame in it. The decorative stones across the front glittered eye-catchingly in the low light. She was currently sitting with her back ramrod straight, scanning for a certain somebody. Naruto slouched, trying to pretend he wasn’t doing the same.

Naruto leaned his cheek against his fist. “I wonder who proposed.”

“Hm? Oh.” She adjusted the brooch in her hair. “You know, I think it was Neji.”

“Neji?”

At the grooms’ table, Neji leaned in to brush a piece of lint off Lee’s shoulder. Lee turned away from his conversation with Guy to give him a dopey smile.

Watching Neji smile back, Naruto kinda saw it. He sighed.

Sakura gave him a look. “Hey. No moping, dummy. You’re here to have fun.”

“Yeah,” Naruto said, lifting his champagne glass to his lips. His head was already fuzzy like it got after a couple beers. In his estimation, he thought he might be well on his way to being well and truly drunk for the first time ever. Which was nice. At least then he'd be passed out or doing something stupid instead of moping.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy for Neji and Lee. Actually, he was so happy he could cry. He had been right there with Lee, hatching stupid plots to win over Neji's affections, crouching in bushes to spy on their dates and provide Lee some emotional support...getting caught in the bushes by Neji...pretending he was taking a shit in the bushes to escape scrutiny...the usual. They were good times. Which just made it all the more painful that he couldn’t even muster a smile at their wedding. If he was in better form, he would have been right next to them all night, probably like, getting into a drinking contest with Lee or something. But…

Sakura sat up even straighter. “Ah!”

Naruto followed her line of sight to Ino, who was dressed in a slinky black dress with a plunging neckline. She winked at Sakura.

Sakura got up, blushing. “Sorry, Naruto, I’ll be right back. I just gotta…um. Talk to Ino.”

“Sure, sure, go ahead."

“Right back!” she promised, beelining for Ino.

As soon as he was alone, he put his face on his table and blew out a mighty sigh.

It was not very cool of him to mope. Actually, it was super lame. He promised himself he’d wallow for another thirty seconds, and then he’d get up and be happy. And if he broke that promise, a thousand pushups. No, a thousand million!

As he slumped there, staring into the distance, he spotted an unmistakable figure, and immediately shot up.

He’d been half-expecting him, of course, but…the shock was unimaginable. Every word dried up in his head. Sasuke. Naruto caught another glimpse of him among the crowd on the dance floor. It _was_ him, dressed up dapper in a black suit and tie, a handsome young man under the twinkling lights.

Holy shit. Naruto was gonna say something to him, wasn’t he? Yeah. He was gonna give him a piece of his mind. Naruto knocked back his champagne, and also Sakura’s abandoned champagne, and got ready to march over there.

But Sasuke came to him first.

He appeared over him, laying cool fingertips on the back of Sakura’s chair, and said, “Naruto.”

Cool and suave, like he didn’t fight him to near death months ago and then take off without another word.

“Sasuke,” Naruto said. Sourly. “So you came back.”

Sasuke inclined his head, taking the free seat next to Naruto. “Yeah.”

Naruto stared at him. He tried to remember what he was going to say to him. There was a flush high on Sasuke’s cheeks, localized to two points, and Naruto wondered if he might be drunk.

Sasuke put an forearm on the table. His sleeve rose, exposing the bone of his wrist. No, he couldn’t be drunk. He was looking at Naruto so steadily.

“Congratulations on the Hokage thing,” Sasuke said.

“Yeah, thanks.”

Naruto wished he had more alcohol. It was a little painful to see Sasuke up close like this, when he thought he might never see him again. The invitation Neji and Lee had sent him had been a total shot in the dark. But here he was. Nice and clean and...ugh.

Ugh. Sasuke.

 “So,” Sasuke said casually. “Did I finally make you hate me?”

Naruto sighed. So he wanted a fight. “No.”

Sasuke nodded. And nodded. And then he said, “I’m sorry.”

Naruto blinked at him. Sasuke inched his hand closer, gauging Naruto’s response. When Naruto didn’t react, he put his hand over his.

It felt so warm.

There was a faint flush creeping up Sasuke's ears as he looked down at their hands. He looked like he didn’t remember doing it, and he was leaning in way closer than he usually would to talk to somebody. Naruto reevaluated his conclusion that Sasuke was sober.

“Can I ask you something?” Sasuke said. The blush almost made him look nervous, which was preposterous. Ridiculous.

“...Yeah.”

“All those months I was gone, all I could think about…” He took his hand away and coughed. “No. What I mean is…my question. From back then. Why?”  

Naruto didn’t have to ask what he meant. He’d thought of this question a thousand times—at night, as he stared at the dark picture frame, out in the field when his determination made people look away—but the answer evaded him every time. All he felt was the resolve.

It was simple. Of course he had to save him. Of course he had to chase him to the ends of the earth. There was no reason to question something he felt so surely about.

What he didn’t realize, couldn’t realize, was that the answer was the straightest line he could ever hope for. It never tangled or changed or faded. It never left.

Naruto shook his head. “You know why.”

Sasuke lifted his chin and said, “No, I don’t.”

Something sparked in him at the challenge in Sasuke’s eyes. He clenched his fist. “Really? Then you must be dumber than I thought.”

Sasuke stared at him steadily. Infuriatingly.

It boiled up in him. Years and years. Words and words, a mountain of them. Like a flare of nine-tailed chakra, it consumed him.

And of course, it didn’t help that he was also drunk. That was like a tank of gasoline poured on a bonfire.

He stood up, throwing his chair back, and slammed his fist on the table. “I love you, idiot. You big dumb idiot. You shitty idiot! That’s why! Do you get it now?” Naruto swallowed. “So don’t go running away anymore, okay?! Do you get it now?!”

Sasuke didn’t say anything. His face suddenly smoothed out, like he had finally realized something, and he got up and came over to him.

Naruto squared his shoulders. His pulse was pounding like a drum in his head and his extremities, screaming at him.

Sasuke said, “Naruto.”

What a word. Full of resolve.

Sasuke's eyes, dark as Naruto remembered them, flashed with a thousand intentions. But the words he said were simple.

“I don’t want to run away.” And then he dropped to one knee. Naruto heard gasps. He glanced around sharply and saw eyes pointed at them. It seemed like about a million people had paused in the festivities to watch this drunk and thrilling tale unfold. His brain was just white noise.

Sasuke took out a silver ring. “So marry me.”

The sound of a million people holding their breath.

Had Naruto dreamed of this? Had he ever imagined this? Sasuke looked up at him, cool and striking, but his eyes weren’t nearly as calm. They were a fiery mess.

His head swam. He tried to find his voice.

“Idiot,” he whispered.

As soon as he heard that, Sasuke smiled. It was so infuriatingly handsome Naruto couldn’t help but smile back.

“Okay,” was what he said. “Okay.”

Sasuke carefully slid the ring onto his finger.

Somebody started clapping. And then somebody else did, and soon several tables were clapping and whistling as Naruto hauled Sasuke to his feet and kissed him. They kept clapping even as Naruto and Sasuke tumbled to the floor. The sound was huge, like crashing waves, and they clutched each other on the ground and kissed each other so hard it hurt.

From a few tables away, Rock Lee yelled, “Beautiful! Just beautiful!”

He sounded like he was crying.

***

Sakura hurried out of the bathroom at the noise, her lipstick mysteriously smudged and her hair in mysterious disarray. “What did I miss?” she asked breathlessly.

Ino poked out after her. Her eyebrows went up… and up and up.

“Sakura,” she said. “I think your friends got married.”

***

After that, Naruto listened to Sakura’s advice and had a good time. A wonderful time, even. They got roaring drunk and it was the fuzziest feeling ever. Like floating on a cloud. He showed everybody his ring. He showed everybody Sasuke, which Sasuke allowed.

At one point, Neji pulled him aside with the sourest face and whispered, “You’re welcome,” and Naruto responded by giving him a big kiss on the cheek.

Naruto wouldn’t let go of Sasuke the whole night, but the nice thing was, Sasuke wouldn’t either.

**Author's Note:**

> ;)


End file.
